Author: Anne Ewbank / Source: Atlas Obscura
Olive oil has long been an important part of Italian life. In Rome, there’s even a hillside made of shards of olive oil containers, which ancient Romans discarded in a giant mound. According to a new study, though, olive oil has been enjoyed in Italy for even longer than previously thought: by at least 700 years.
The discovery was hiding in plain sight, inside pottery excavated 20 years ago. In the study, Professor Davide Tanasi of the University of South Florida, Dr. Anita Crispino, and others examined three artifacts from the prehistoric settlement of Castelluccio, Sicily. One of them was an unusual jar, which Crispino describes as unique in its size and decoration. Pieced together from 400 fragments, it was an “egg-shaped 3 ½ foot storage container adorned with rope bands and three vertical handles on each side.
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